This is not far wrong.
U.S. decline and eventual unraveling
This is not far wrong.
Category: things getting worse
Obama – ISIS Campaign unending, expensive ordeal
… White House aides confirmed that President Obama will reassure Americans that the impending military campaign against ISIS will be the exact same type of open-ended, drawn-out conflict that they are used to. …
… speech to comfort the American public by reminding them that they have been through armed engagements without clear end dates or even concrete objectives plenty of times before, and that this case is no different,” …
… the president will assuage viewers’ concerns by laying out precisely how the U.S. will mire itself in the same old quagmire that citizens have grown accustomed to over the years. “The president’s message is clear: This will be just another one of our routine intractable engagements in the region—it’s going to be unending, it’s going to be expensive, and it’s going to affect our credibility within the international community. …
Worst two Presidents ever, I’d say. And for much the same reasons. 😦
Losing Iraq
When you hear anyone tell you that the USA could have WON in Iraq, please know they are blowing smoke.
11 May 2003 Rumsfeld, Cheney and Bush appointed L. Paul Bremer to run Iraq. Bremer did not speak Arabic. Knew nothing of the Middle East. Seems to have done pretty much everything wrong.
On May 23, 2003, Bremer issued Order Number 2, in effect dissolving the entire former Iraqi army and putting 400,000 former Iraqi soldiers out of work. Discontent and insurgency grew stronger.
… It probably doesn’t matter what Bremer did.
It’s not possible for a foreign invader to WIN in Iraq or Afghanistan. Never has been. Never will.
Recall that wannabe President John McCain said that U.S. troops could spend “maybe 100” years in Iraq. That wouldn’t have been long enough. 😦
If you want a recap, I recommend Frontline:
U.S. troops withdrew from Iraq in 2011, ending America’s military commitment in the country.
Now, chaos is once again engulfing Iraq. The team behind “The Lost Year in Iraq,” “The Torture Question” and “Bush’s War” takes a look at how we got here, what went wrong, and what happens next.
Losing Iraq (July 29, 2014)
The longer the U.S. military stays, the more suicide bombers they will inspire. The more Westerners will join the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). 😦
history of the U.S. public debt
During the presidency of George W. Bush, debt held by the public increased from $3.339 trillion in September 2001 to $6.369 trillion by the end of 2008. In the aftermath of the Global Financial Crisis and related significant revenue declines and spending increases, debt held by the public increased to $11.917 trillion by the end of July 2013, under the presidency of Barack Obama. …
More important is the increasing of debt/GDP.
G.W. Bush was the worst President ever in his second term.
Obama was the second worst President ever in his first term. … Of course Obama had to take over the mess left to him on G.W.’s watch.
In any case, regardless of which Party wins the Presidency of the USA, I can’t see how the USA can ever repay that debt. They cannot grow the economy enough (as they could after WW II). And they cannot pay it back.
Something will happen.
Default?
Comcast Worst Company In America 2014
Congratulations To Comcast, Your 2014 Worst Company In America
A new example of how Comcast sucks.
Ryan Block, formerly of Engadget and now at AOL, called Comcast to cancel his service, but instead of politely obliging and going ahead with his request, the representative on the line insisted on taking him through a circular argument to find out the reason why he was canceling …
Block was able to capture about eight minutes of the call and has posted the audio to his Soundcloud account …
Yeesh. That is painful.
What’s the response from Comcast?
Comcast Memo: Rep From “Painful” Retention Call Was Doing “What We Trained Him To Do”
John Oliver on Nuclear Weapons
Here are the leading causes of preventable death in the USA.
A motor vehicle crash the greatest danger for most people.
Personally, I worry most about Nuclear weapons. The world could be quickly destroyed.
Click PLAY or watch John Oliver’s profane rant on YouTube.
America’s lost oomph
The Economist posted on how the greatest economy in the world in the 1990s got so feeble by 2014.
Points include:
– America’s broken immigration system.
– Obamacare, though good in other respects, tends to shrink the labour force …
– outdated social safety net
– (the USA) has not raised the retirement age
– allowed its disability-insurance system to become an ersatz welfare scheme
… the odds rise that America’s economy will continue to lumber along at an underwhelming pace, and Americans will have no one to blame but their leaders.
Worse, I see little chance for any serious reform over the next 2 years under Obama.
And not much more chance under President Clinton. As things worsen in America, voters will lash out by voting against the President’s Party in mid-term elections.
More gridlock.
😦
blame Republicans for blocking immigration reform
In the very near future it will be impossible to win the American Presidency without a majority of Latino voters, yet Republicans are doing a very effective job of alienating Latinos.
For example, this exchange from May 2014:
The GOP’s John Boehner refuses to bring immigration reform to a vote. Pathetically tries to deflect with “Obamacare”.
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
That’s Jorge Ramos, the most respected Spanish American journalist. He blames Boehner more than anyone else. I blame Boehner and the Republican Party.
This is where the strategy of “voting against anything Obama” is going to cost the GOP.
The immigration process is broken. Boehner refuses to bring a fix to a vote.
related – NBC – Why immigration reform died in Congress
Iraq, ISIS, Syria and War
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Rick McCharles 